Nigeria's military said it has killed 17 insurgents in an attack on two training camps belonging to the Boko Haram Islamist group.

One soldier was also killed in the firefight that broke out after they moved in on the camps, backed by helicopter gunships, the military said.

Spokesman Lt Col Sagir Musa said the "fortified" camps were in a forest and a game reserve in Borno State.

Boko Haram is seeking to establish an Islamic state in Nigeria.

The group has been blamed for the deaths of some 1,400 people in central and northern Nigeria since 2010.

The military "conducted two special operations supported by Nigerian Airforce helicopter gunship[s] to dislodge Boko Haram training camps" in the Ruwa forest and the Sambisa Game Reserve, Lt Col Musa said in a statement.

"The camp was properly... fortified and had training facilities, an armoury, accommodation, a drug store, kitchen, vehicle holding area, latrine and water points," he said.

Ankara: A suicide bomber detonated an explosive device outside the US embassy in Turkey's capital Ankara on Friday. Initial reports suggest that three people have been killed in the blast.

The suicide bomber, a security guard, a US staff member are reported to be dead, according to the Turkish police. Meanwhile, the Ministry of External Affairs in India has confirmed that all Indians in Turkey are safe.

The bomb appeared to have exploded inside the security checkpoint at the entrance of the embassy. Private NTV television said two security guards at the entrance were killed.

The embassy building is heavily protected. It is near an area where several other embassies, including that of Germany and France, are located. Police sealed off the area and journalists were being kept away. There was no claim of responsibility, but Kurdish rebels and Islamic militants are active in Turkey.

Kurdish rebels, who are fighting for autonomy in the Kurdish-dominated southeast, have dramatically stepped up attacks in Turkey over 2012. As well, homegrown Islamic militants tied to al-Qaida have carried out suicide bombings in Istanbul, killing 58, in 2003. The targets were the British consulate, a British bank and two synagogues. In 2008, an attack blamed on al-Qaida-affiliated militants outside the US Consulate in Istanbul left three assailants and three policemen dead.

#2
Prelim ID of bomber has been released on updated news reports. Lebanese? This was a remarkably fast identification of a perpetrator. They must have had camera coverage of the outside perimeter of the US embassy. Even so - wonder how they ID'ed him so quickly?? It's almost like they had this person under surveillance or something.

[AyPee] A suspected jacket wallah detonated an bomb at the entrance of the U.S. Embassy in the Turkish capital on Friday and at least two people are dead, a police official said.

An News Agency that Dare Not be Named journalist saw a body in the street in front of an embassy side entrance. The bomb appeared to have went kaboom! inside the security checkpoint at the entrance of the visa section of the embassy.

Several ambulances were dispatched to the area. An AP journalist saw at least one woman who appeared to be seriously injured being carried into an ambulance.

Private NTV television said two security guards at the entrance were killed.

There was no claim of responsibility, but Kurdish rebels and Islamic faceless myrmidons are active in Turkey.

A suicide bomber detonated an explosive Friday in front of the U.S. Embassy in Ankara, killing himself and a Turkish guard in an attack that Turkish officials blamed on domestic leftists.

A police official, meanwhile, told The Associated Press that the bomber is most likely a suspected member of the outlawed Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front, or DHKP-C. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not permitted to speak to the press.

[Jpost] The Iraqi paper Azzaman quoted Western diplomatic sources as saying Thursday that the alleged Israeli attack on Syria caused heavy casualties of special Iranian Guards at the Syrian facility. The sources also said that the attack took place more than 48 hours before it was reported,

Oh my. Or, perhaps, whoops.

eventually being leaked by Israel.

The source for the story, who was interviewed by the paper in London, said that the report about a strike on a convoy to Leb was probably meant to divert attention away from the main objective of the operation, which used F-16 aircraft to fire at least eight guided missiles at the facility.

The source also said that the base was heavily fortified and contained experts from Russia and at least three thousand Iranian Revolutionary Guards, who have been guarding the site for years. Many of these Iranian Guards suffered casualties.

Despite their name they don't seem to be very good at guarding, at least if Juices are involved.

Israel most likely got its intelligence, said the source, from penetrating deep inside Iran and from other operations meant to penetrate Hezbollah.

#7
tipper,
this all would be very amusing and mirth making if the possible consequences weren't so dire.

Make no mistake that I'm all for the Juice in this but I just can't imagine all the combinations of war that could break out when the dam is breached......and where/how Zero would would get US involved.

#8
If the map I posted yesterday is accurate, there certainly are [or was] a large number of military barracks in that area. Hopefully we've reimbursed the Israeli Air Force for the bombs and gas and provided timely bomb damage assessment imagery. It's the least we could do.

A catastrophic, 9/11 style attack on the homeland, followed by a declaration of national emergency would be my guess. Both the Congress and the constitution would then go on a very, very long recess while the Champ sorted things out to his liking.

#11
Hagel's inability to anticipate trip-wire questions, along with his inability to think quick enough to come up with reasonable answers [and reasonable, intelligent answers were available] should disqualify him. Sorry Chuck, does not appear you've got the right stuff.

#20
Israel signed on to the club med pact with the euro trash don't the Jews have oil interest with Iran France and Russia in Mali?

Israel has found their own oil and gas, Maggie Flomong2662, both on land and in the Mediterranean, and is working with Cyprus to get theirs out of the sea. I'm not sure what you're getting at with the rest of your post -- no doubt I'm thinking more slowly than usual today.

* SAME > NUKES COULD STILL BE HIJACKED BY RADICALS: PAK SCIENTIST [Pervez Hoodbhoy].

As US + AFPAK get closer to 2014, PAKISTANI NUCLEAR SECURITY REMAINS PROBLEMATIC.

Once the Taliban, etal. start their de facto formal participation in the processes of Pak Govt, IT WILL BE NEXT-TO-IMPOSSIBLE TO PREVENT THE HARD BOYZ FROM HAVING SIGNIFICANT INFLUENCE-N-CONTROL OER PAKISTAN'S NUCLEAR ARSENAL.

* WORLD MILITARY FORUM > NETANYAHU DRAWS "LINE IN THE SAND" AGZ IRAN'S NUCLEAR PROGRAM, BUT FOR THE US. 2013 IS LAST YEAR US + INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY [UNO = UNIAEA] CAN PEACEFULLY PUT EFFECTIVE STOP TO IRAN'S NUCLEAR VENTURE WIDOUT RESORT TO WARFARE - US IS ONLY WORLD POWER THAT CAN UNILATERALLY FORCE EITHER IRAN CONCESSION OR IN ALTERNATE DESTRUCTION OF IRAN'S PROGRAM.

Iran has times stated that any military attack by Israel + IDF agz its Nucprog, Allies, or Interests will be deemed by Iran the same as an attack by the USA agz same, justifying an Iranian military counter-response or other [Proxy Terror = Hezbollah, etal.] as decided by Iran.

BY ITS STRIKES ON SYRIA ISRAEL HAS MET IRAN'S CONDITIONS AS ABOVE DESPITE IRAN'S THREAT OF MILITARY ANDOR TERROR COUNTER-REPONSE - the ball is now in Tehran's court.

For a map, click here. For a map of Durango state, click here. For a map of Coahuila state, click here

By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com

At least five buses have been robbed at gunpoint near a northeast Durango municipality near La Laguna since last Sunday, according to Mexican enws accounts.

A news report which appeared last Monday on the website of El Mexicano news daily said that a group of athletes from Universidad Autonoma de Ciudad Juarez (UACJ) were stopped by armed suspects in Cuencame de Ceniceros municipality, and stripped of cell phones and cash.

Cuencame de Ceniceros is on Mexico Federal Highway 40 about 40 kilometers southwest of La Laguna. In the Sunday attack, armed suspects riding aboard a truck forced the three buses carrying the students to stop. One of the bus drivers was reported hurt.

A news report by Richard Ibarra which appeared on Yancuic news website said that the attacks began last Tuesday, which does not line up with the El Mexicano account, which said one attack took place on Sunday

In the Yancuic account, the office of the Durango Fiscalia General del Estado (FGE) or state attorney general said one of the attacks took place near the village of Chocolate early Tuesday morning.

When Mexican federal security forces arrived at the Chocolate location, they found five vehicles, an abandoned truck, passengers and a driver. The Yancuic account also said another two public buses were robbed as well.

Additionally, a truck was attacked with small arms in Gomez Palacio Thursday, but no one was reported hurt in that attack.

Meanwhile in Torreon, Coahuila, four more dead were found, bringing the total murdered in Torreon to 42.

According to several news reports posted on the website of El Diario de Coahuila news daily, three individuals were found shot to death near the intersection of Calle Joaquin Moreno and Avenida Juarez in Torreon. The dead were identified as Jesus Humberto Martinez Escarcega, 25, Alexis, 17, and Claudia Berenice Guzman Reyes, 30.

In other news, in perhaps the most stark statement to date of the security situation, the Durango FGE was forced to admit that security operations on the Durango side of La Laguna are no longer under the control of her office.

A press report brief which appeared on the website of El Siglo de Torreon news daily reported the remarks of Lt. Adelaido Flores Diaz, director of Torreon Direccion de Seguridad Publica Municipal, as saying Seguro Laguna was now in operation.

Seguro Laguna was the name of the now cancelled security program which operated in the region between October 2011 and November 30th 2012. The then Secretaria de Gobernacion (SEGOB) or interior minister Alejandro Poire cancelled the operation when violent crime fell in the area.

The decision to cancel Seguro Laguna left Durango governor Jorge Herrera Caldera practically screaming in the press for federal security assistance. The only federal response since last December was to close Centro de Readaptcion Social Numero 2 in Gomez Palacio, before a decision was made to reintroduce federal security forces, such as army, naval infantry and Policia Federal units to the region. The decision to close the CERESO, made by new SEGOB Miguel Osorio Chong, has complicated state security efforts, now that detainees must be taken to the Durango state capital 150 kilometers away.

In a brief statement to the press, Durango FGE Sonia Yadira Garza Fragoso said that Seguro Laguna was no longer in operation and that the Mexican Army now solely controls security operations in the region.

Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com

Syria threatened dire revenge on Thursday to retaliate for an Israeli airstrike and its ally Iran said there will be repercussions for the Jewish state over the attack.

Syria sent a letter to the UN Secretary-General stressing the country's "right to defend itself, its territory and sovereignty" and holding Israel and its supporters accountable.

"Israel and those who protect it at the Security Council are fully responsible for the repercussions of this aggression," the letter from Syria's Foreign Ministry said.

The Syrian military denied there was any weapons convoy and said low-flying Israeli jets had crossed into their country over the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights to bomb a scientific research center near Damascus.

"What kind of research?"
"Scientific research!"

It said the target was in the area of Jamraya, northwest of Damascus and about 15 kilometers (10 miles) from the Lebanese border.

Maj. Gen. Abdul-Aziz Jassem al-Shallal, who in December became one of the most senior Syrian army officers to defect, told The Associated Press by telephone from Turkey that the site they said was targeted is a "major and well-known" center to develop weapons known as the Scientific Research Center.

See? Both sides are correct!

Al-Shallal, who until his defection was commander of the military police, said no chemical or nonconventional weapons are at the site. He added that foreign experts, including Russians and Iranians, are usually present at such centers.

Syrian Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdul-Karim Ali threatened retribution for the Israeli airstrike, saying Damascus "has the option and the capacity to surprise in retaliation."

Well, you do have the option, though capacity looks a little iffy...

He told Hezbollah's al-Ahd news website that it was up to the relevant authorities to prepare the retaliation and choose the time and place.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry summoned Major-General Iqbal Singh Singha, the head of mission and force commander for United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) on the Golan Heights, to complain about the Israeli violation. At UN headquarters in New York, deputy UN spokesman Eduardo del Buey said: "UNDOF did not observe any planes flying over the area of separation, and therefore was not able to confirm the incident." UNDOF also reported bad weather conditions, he said.

"Nothing! We saw nothing! Tell them, Hogan!"

Hezbollah condemned the attack as "barbaric aggression" and said it "expresses full solidarity with Syria's command, army and people."

Four soldiers were seriously injured in a gun attack that was followed by an explosion targeting their colleagues who were coming to rescue them in Narathiwat province late on Thursday afternoon.

The attack occurred as six soldiers in a security team assigned to escort schoolteachers, were traveling in a military jeep. They were leading a convoy of teachers driving a pickup truck, a car and a motorcycle.

Gunmen hiding in a roadside rubber plantation fired almost 30 shots at the soldiers vehicle with M16 and AK-47 assault rifles. The driver and three others were hit in the arms and legs. All of the injured are in critical condition.

As the teachers raced away from the scene, the units leader, who was unhurt, radioed his base to ask for backup. A six-member rapid response team was dispatched to the scene. However, another group of terrorists militants hiding in the roadside forest detonated a bomb targeting their vehicle, and a five-minute gunfight ensued.The bomb caused no injuries. Thirty-two spent M16 and AK-47 cartridges were collected from the spot where the attackers were hiding.

Thursdays attack came on the same day as Thailand's foreign minister led 15 delegates from the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to a meeting with the chairman of the Pattani Islamic Committee and local religious leaders while on a visit to monitor the current situation and the progress in the government's efforts to conclude the southern conflict.

[An Nahar] A Malian military front man said on Thursday that four soldiers died and five others were maimed when their vehicle hit a land mine in eastern Mali.

Modibo Traore told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named that the soldiers were killed Wednesday evening in the town of Gossi.

The town is located between the towns of Hombori and Gao, both of which had been under Islamist rule until the French-led military offensive began earlier this month.

The French and Malians have been able to grab back control of the placid provincial capitals of Timbuktu, Gao and Kidal in a matter of weeks.

However,Caliphornia hasn't yet slid into the ocean, no matter how hard it's tried... questions remain about whether the Malian military and its West African allies can hold the cities once the French leave.

[Dawn] Six members of a family were killed when a mortar fell on a house in Tirah valley of Khyber Agency on Wednesday, sources said.

They said that a stray mortar fired from Qazi's guesthouse an undisclosed location hit the house of Ghani Gul in Sponrhai area of Kukikhel...a tribe of primitives inhabiting Khyber Agency. They are a branch of the Afridi tribe. Traditionally they have been migratory, tromping between Jamrud and the Rajgal valley with the seasons. The tribe has had mustache-cursing relationships with several other tribes, including the Zakkakhel and Kambarkhel, and with the Mullagori. They make welcome most anyone with a turban and automatic weapons, but every once in awhile they get together a tribal lashkar to mollify the government..., killing six members of his family.

Meanwhile,...back at the palazzo, Count Guido had escaped from his bonds and overwhelmed his guard using the bludgeon the faithful Filomena had smuggled to him in the loaf of bread... security forces said that curfew would be imposed in the entire Bara subdivision of Khyber Agency from Thursday morning.

They made announcements through loudspeakers in most parts of Bara, advising local people to remain inside their houses till next order. The security forces didn't cite any reason for imposition of the indefinite curfew in the entire Bara.

According to assistant political agent Rafiq Mohmand, the Arclight airstrikes took place in the Arghanjo area of the upper Orakzai Agency.

An ongoing military offensive against suspected hard boyz in the tribal agency appears to have gained momentum, with security forces claiming to have killed dozens of hard boyz and destroyed their hideouts in the past week.

Security officials claim that up to 92 per cent of Orakzai agency has been cleared of hard boyz in the ongoing military offensive in the restive tribal region.

Orakzai is one of Pakistain's seven semi-autonomous tribal regions in the northwest, where Pak Taliban and Al Qaeda-linked hard boyz are said to have carved out strongholds.

The area was the original base of Pak Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud before he moved to South Wazoo to take up the Taliban leadership after the death of his predecessor, Baituallah Mehsud.

Unlike the six other tribal agencies, however, Orakzai does not border Afghanistan. The rugged mountainous territory provides a crucial link for hard boyz operating in other tribal regions, as it borders the regions of Khyber and Kurram on the Afghan frontier. It also borders Beautiful Downtown Peshawar...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire., the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... province and Pakistain's main northwestern city, as well as the garrison town of Kohat.

[MAGHAREBIA] A bomb exploded early Thursday morning (January 31st) at a Benghazi police, Libya Herald reported. No casualties or major damage to the Al-Birkah facility were reported.

A similar bomb attack on Tuesday struck an unused United Nations building in the city's Ghut Shaal district.

The police station blast is the latest in a series of attacks on Benghazi security officers. At the beginning of January, Lieutenant-Colonel Nasser Al-Moghrabi of Benghazi's Criminal Investigation Department was killed execution-style by a single gunshot to the head.

Two Benghazi police officers also died this month in separate car bombings.

[An Nahar] A bomb Thursday killed two polio...Poliomyelitis is a disease caused by infection with the poliovirus. Between 1840 and the 1950s, polio was a worldwide epidemic. Since the development of polio vaccines the disease has been largely wiped out in the civilized world. However, since the vaccine is known to make Moslem pee-pees shrink and renders females sterile, bookish, and unsubmissive it is not widely used by the turban and automatic weapons set... vaccination workers in Pakistain's northwestern tribal region, officials said, the latest in a series of such attacks which have now killed 19 in two months.

There has been no claim of responsibility for any of the killings. But the umbrella Taliban faction last year banned polio vaccinations in the tribal region of Wazoo, condemning the campaign as a cover for espionage.

"The two-men team was visiting Mali Khel village in upper Kurram tribal region when an improvised bomb planted along the roadside went off, killing them on the spot," Jawad Ali, in charge of the campaign in Kurram, told Agence La Belle France Presse.

He said the team had been visiting different areas which were not covered by a three-day campaign that ended Wednesday.

Local administration official Javaid Ullah confirmed the incident.

Kurram is part of the semi-autonomous tribal belt near the Afghan border where Taliban and al-Qaeda-linked hard boyz have carved out strongholds to plot attacks on Pak, Afghan and Western targets.

It is also rife with sectarian violence between Shiite and Sunni Moslems.

Pakistain, Afghanistan and Nigeria are the only countries in the world where polio is endemic. But rumors about vaccines being a plot to sterilize Moslems have long dogged efforts to tackle the highly infectious disease.

[Bangla Daily Star] At least three people in Bogra were killed in festivities during yesterday's hartal... a peculiarly Bangla combination of a general strike and a riot, used by both major political groups in lieu of actual governance ... enforced by Jamaat-e-Islami...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... demanding the scrapping of the international crimes tribunals and release of its top leaders being tried for war crimes.

The party and its student body Islami Chhatra Shibir... the student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh... called for a dawn-to-dusk hartal in the district tomorrow protesting the killings.

At least a hundred people, including 10 coppers, were maimed in Bogra yesterday when the pickets and law enforcers clashed. Pickets even snatched a rifle from a policeman.

At least 35 people were placed in durance vileDrop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try! in connection with the violence.

Meanwhile,...back at the palazzo, Count Guido stepped from behind the suit of armor, rapier in hand. Ciccolini snarled and reached for his own weapon... an auto-rickshaw driver in Feni crashed his vehicle into a tree while trying to outrun the pickets chasing him. He departed this vale of tears at a hospital.

A policeman in Jessore suffered minor injuries when pickets attacked him in Monirampur but he later died of a heart attack at a hospital.

Law enforcers picked four persons in connection with the attack.

Yesterday, Jamaat and pro-Jamaat student body Islami Chhatra Shibir men went on the rampage across the country and vandalised more than 60 vehicles, mostly buses and trucks, and torched over 25 vehicles including four police vans.

The half-day hartal in Dhaka and Chittagong, dawn-to-dusk elsewhere, was also marked by kabooms of homemade bombs, violence and detention.

The rampage comes a day after Jamaat-Shibir men vandalised and torched vehicles in the capital supporting the hartal. Yesterday, the violence was scattered across the country.

In Bogra, some unidentified people launched an attack on a group of pickets, including Abu Ruhani, in front of Govt Mojibur Rahman College in the town around 12:30pm, witnesses said.

Ruhani along with other injured were rushed to a local hospital where doctors declared Ruhani dead.

He is the president of Shibir unit of Azizul Haque College (old building) and a third-year student of the sociology department.

Witnesses said unidentified people dragged Mizanur, owner of Bhai-Bon Hatchery (fish fry farm) at Subgram, out of his establishment and hacked him with sharp weapons around 12:45pm.

Seriously injured, he was rushed to Shaheed Ziaur Rahman Medical College Hospital where he was pronounced dead.He's dead, Jim!at 1:15pm.

Jamaat-Shibir men armed with lethal weapons brought out a procession in the town carrying the two dead around 4:30pm but police obstructed them.

Around 5:30pm, the pickets set fire to a students' dorm at Jamil Nagar area of the town. Pro-ruling party activists allegedly dominate the dorm.

Police and Rab personnel came to disperse the protesters, triggering a 40-minute clash that left Abdullah, 21, a Shibir activist of Bogra Shaheed Chandu Stadium Unit, killed.

Presidents of Bogra District Bangladesh Chhatra League... the student wing of the Bangla Awami League ... and Jubo League... the youth wing of the Bangla Awami League... Mashrafi Hero and Manzurul Alam have claimed that they were not responsible for the deaths.

"None of our activists staged any demonstrations yesterday," said Mashrafi of the pro-ruling party student body.

Assistant Superintendent of Police (A-Circle) Maqbul Hossain and Officer-in-Charge Syed Shahid Alam of Bogra Police Station told The Daily Star that all the three dead in Bogra belonged to Jamaat-Shibir.

Meanwhile,...back at the revival hall, Buford bit the snake and Eloise immediately began speaking in tongues... Zahirul Haque, 50, constable of Monirampur Police Station in Jessore died of cardiac arrest just after a clash between police and Jamaat-Shibir men early yesterday. He had sustained injuries during the clash.

In Feni, driver of a CNG-run auto-rickshaw Mohammad Emon, 25, departed this vale of tears at Feni Sadar Hospital after he suffered serious injuries when his vehicle hit a tree.

Emon, the lone bread earner of his family, was going to Sharshadi from Feni when pickets chased his vehicle and he tried to escape with his vehicle.

Three passengers on his vehicle were also injured.

In the capital, Jamaat-Shibir activists launched an attack on law enforcers from a procession at Bijoy Nagar around 7:00pm.

"Over 100 Jamaat-Shibir activists equipped with sticks and brick chips made the attack but police dispersed them after a half-hour-long clash," said the officer-in-charge of Paltan Police Station.

Earlier in the day, Jamaat-Shibir men set fire to three vehicles in Mirpur-11, two each in Postagola and Shonir Akhra.

They also vandalised nine buses and went kaboom! eight homemade bombs in the city while the law enforcers rounded up 15 pro-hartal activists.

In Chittagong, pickets went kaboom! homemade bombs, torched at least seven vehicles and vandalised two minibuses.

[An Nahar] Two more people died in festivities between police and protesters near Cairo's Tahrir Square earlier this week, the health ministry said Thursday, bringing to 56 the number of deaths nationwide in a week of violence.

The two -- a 26-year-old male and another unidentified man -- were shot in the head and chest during festivities late on Tuesday night and shuffled off the mortal coil overnight, health ministry front man Ahmed Omar said.

The protests took a violent turn on Saturday after a court sentenced 21 residents of the canal city of Port Said to death for their involvement in football-related violence last year.

Anger on the street has been directed mainly at Islamist President Mohammed Morsi and his Moslem Brüderbund movement who have been accused of monopolizing power and failing to reform post-revolt Egypt.

[An Nahar] Egyptian authorities on Thursday placed in durance vileDon't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! a member of the Black Bloc beturbanned goon group suspected of planning to carry out an Israeli-directed sabotage plan, the official MENA news agency said.

Oooooh, the Israelis. No doubt a cunning plot was involved -- those Israelis are better than anyone when it comes to cunning plots.

One person "belonging to the Black Bloc organization was tossed in the slammerDrop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages! inside a building overlooking Tahrir Square carrying Israeli plans to target petrol companies and vital installations, maps of these places and instructions on setting fire to some places," MENA reported.

Israel firmly rejected the notion of its involvement in any such plot.

Egypt's state security prosecution is currently questioning the suspect who is accused of "belonging to an illegal organization and planning to sabotage private and public property."

According to MENA, the suspect admitted to belonging to the Black Bloc, a group of masked faceless myrmidons who have appeared among protesters in recent festivities with police.

The suspect was spotted by a security guard in a residential building off Tahrir Square and handed over to police, MENA said.

Israeli foreign ministry front man Yigal Palmor said he had no idea whether or not the Black Bloc member intended to carry out a plan of sabotage, but the claim of Israeli involvement was "utter nonsense."

Elsewhere, another suspected Black Bloc member was arrested after placing an order with a clothing factory in the city of Mahalla, north of Cairo, for black masks and outfits for the group, the prosecution said in the report.

The arrests come on the eve of planned protests against President Mohamed Morsi as deadly unrest has swept the country.

[Dawn] At least six people, including a 'commander' of the proscribed Balochistan...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... Liberation Army (BLA), were killed Thursday in an operation by security forces in Kalat district of insurgency-hit Balochistan province, security officials told DawnNews.

A front man for the Frontier Corps (FC) said that an operation was carried out in the Mangochar area of Kalat district Thursday morning.

The front man confirmed that a BLA commander was among six people killed in the offensive. He added that forces had also incarceratedYez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'! five people from the area and that a cache of arms and ammunition was recovered from them.

The FC front man added that the operation was carried out following directions from the provincial administration.

[Dawn] Mufti Abdul Majeed Deenpuri, a top holy man of the Jamia Banuri Uloom Islamia was rubbed out Thursday, with at least nine other people killed in Bloody Karachi...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... in the last 24 hours, officials said.

Deenpuri, 60, was a top mufti at the seminary. He was being driven in a car with a fellow holy man when a gunman opened fire near the eastern neighbourhood Nursery.

"We have got blurred close-circuit camera footage that shows there was a single gunman who was waiting for them," a senior police official told AFP on the condition of anonymity.

"When the car slowed down near a traffic intersection, he opened fire to stop it and then attacked them at close range," he said.

"It was a assassination and could have a sectarian dimension," another security official told AFP.

Seven others have died in acts of violence in the city since late Wednesday, he said.

Fear and panic gripped the area after the killing of Mufti Deenpuri, as enraged protestors erupted into the streets disrupting vehicular traffic on Sharea Faisal, which is one of the main arteries of the city.

Two people were bumped off near the Northern Bypass area.

Earlier, three bodies, bearing torture marks, were found stuffed in gunny bags in Bloody Karachi's BaldiaTown area. The victims were kidnapped a day earlier from Orangi town's Mominabad area in Bloody Karachi.

Another tortured body was found in Timber market area of Bloody Karachi.

A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.

Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.